Telefonica, the Spanish telephone company which owns 39% of Terra Lycos, is believed to be ready to buy control, taking the internet firm private.

Although Telefonica has repeatedly denied wanting to buy out Terra, some analysts feel it will be tempted by the internet company's cash reserves of 1.75bn euros.

Those are two important things to keep in mind when speculating about the future of Lycos. Lycos is a monster, and a strange one at that. It's a complicated mesh of share and owners. They don't have a clear cut business model as a whole.

I don't really see them attracting companies like Yahoo, MSN or whomever for a buyout.